Tester with acceleration on memory and acceleration for automatic pattern generation within a FPGA block

Abstract

Automated test equipment capable of performing a high-speed test of semiconductor devices is presented. The automated test equipment apparatus comprises a computer system comprising a tester processor, wherein the tester processor is communicatively coupled to a plurality of FPGA components. Each of the plurality of FPGA components is coupled to a memory module and comprises: an upstream port operable to receive commands and data from the tester processor; a downstream port operable to communicate with a respective DUT from a plurality of DUTs; and a plurality of hardware accelerator circuits, wherein each of the accelerator circuits is configured to communicate with one of the plurality of DUTs. Each of the plurality of hardware accelerator circuits comprises a pattern generator circuit configurable to automatically generate test pattern data to be written to the one of the plurality of DUTs and a comparator circuit configured to compare data read from the one of the plurality of DUTs with test pattern data written to the one of the plurality of DUTs

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONSRelated Applications[0001]The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed ______, entitled “TESTER WITH MIXED PROTOCOL ENGINE IN FPGA BLOCK,” naming John Frediani and Andrew Niemic as inventors, and having attorney docket number ATST-JP0089. That application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.[0002]The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed ______, entitled “A TEST ARCHITECTURE HAVING MULTIPLE FPGA BASED HARDWARE ACCELERATOR BLOCKS FOR TESTING MULTIPLE DUTS INDEPENDENTLY,” naming Gerald Chan, Andrew Niemic, Eric Kushnick, and Mei-Mei Sui as inventors, and having attorney docket number ATST-JP0090. That application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.[0003]The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed ______, entitled “GUI IMPLEMENTATIONS ON CENTRAL CONTRO...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text describes the need for a tester architecture that can improve the efficiency of testing systems. The proposed solution involves transferring command and test pattern generation functionality onto the FPGA, minimizing the processing load on the tester processor and reducing the bandwidth requirements on the system bus. Furthermore, the proposed solution also involves programming the communicative protocol engine on FPGA devices, making it reconfigurable and eliminating the need for single purpose hardware bus adapter cards. These technical effects would allow more DUTs to be tested simultaneously and facilitate the reconfigurability of protocols used for communication with the DUTs.

Problems solved by technology

Because the tester processor is responsible for generating the commands and test patterns, the number of DUTs that can be tested with a given ATE body is limited by the processing capabilities of the tester processor.

Unless the PCIe hardware bus adapter cards are physically substituted with cards supporting the other protocol, such a system can only test DUTs that support the PCIe protocol.

Thus, on the test floor, critical time is consumed replacing hardware bus adapter cards when DUTs running a different protocol from the one that the existing adapter cards support need to be tested.

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